1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerated appliances and, more particularly, to a refrigerator including a fresh food compartment stirring fan assembly for establishing a substantially uniform compartment temperature, with the stirring fan assembly including a removable filter for eliminating odors and other contaminants within the appliance.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In general, a refrigerator includes a first or freezer compartment for maintaining foodstuffs at or below freezing, and a second or fresh food compartment, in fluid communication with the freezer compartment, for maintaining foodstuffs in a temperature zone between ambient and freezing temperatures. A typical refrigerator includes a refrigeration system including a compressor, an evaporator, a condenser, a main cooling fan for developing a flow of cold air, and a damper located in a passageway interconnecting the freezer and fresh food compartments. In operation, one or more temperature sensors provided within the refrigerator measure at least one internal refrigerator compartment temperature. When the internal temperature of the refrigerator deviates from a predetermined set point temperature, the refrigeration system operates to return the temperature to a point below the set-point.
In general, the largest temperature deviations occur in the freezer compartment. Due to the low temperature at which the freezer compartment is maintained, changes in the freezer compartment, resulting from door openings, ambient temperature changes or the like, can have a substantial impact on the temperatures in each of the fresh food and freezer compartments. In order to return the freezer compartment to the set point temperature, the passageway interconnecting the fresh food and freezer compartments is closed off through operation of the damper. At this time, the freezer and fresh food compartment are isolated from one another. With this arrangement, the main cooling fan is operated to direct an airflow over the evaporator into the freezer compartment. Using this approach, the temperature rise in the freezer compartment can be compensated for in an efficient manner. Unfortunately, when the compartments are isolated one from the other, a temperature stratification can occur in the fresh food compartment due to lack of air circulation.
In order to address such temperature stratification situations, it has been proposed in the prior art to incorporate elaborate air ducting systems and/or a dedicated fan to circulate air within the fresh food compartment. In general, elaborate ducting arrangements not only significantly add to the overall cost of the refrigerator, but effectively limit the space available for storing food items. In connection with known fan arrangements, an airflow is generated whereby air is drawn into the fan and distributed back into the compartment. As such, a more uniform temperature distribution is established within the compartment. However, recirculating the same air within the compartment is not without drawbacks. For instance, contaminants, in the form of dust and the like, tend to settle on internal fan surfaces, only to be later distributed onto food items located within the fresh food compartment.
In addition, odors emanating from stored food can be circulated around the compartment, thereby cross-contaminating, altering the taste of, and otherwise negatively impacting the attractiveness of remaining food items. Certainly, problems associated with refrigerator odors are not new. There are a variety of products on the market which purport to eliminate odors released from food. For instance, in an attempt to eliminate odors, some consumers place open boxes of baking soda within the fresh food compartment, with the baking soda acting to absorb a portion of the odors released by the food. Other consumers use commercial air fresheners to either cover up, or absorb food odors. Regardless of these arrangements, unless the full airflow can be treated, odors within the compartment will not be eliminated.
Regardless of these prior art attempts to address potential temperature stratification and odor problems in a food storage compartment of a refrigerator, there exists a need in the art for a fresh food compartment stirring fan assembly which is both capable of effectively minimizing compartment temperature gradients and accommodates filtering of a recirculated airflow.